Western Cutting Competitions - Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch
In recent years, Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton who founded the popular Wal-Mart shopping chain, has made quite an impression on the world of cutting through Rocking W Ranch, an organization founded by Alice Walton for the breeding, housing, training, competing, and selling of cutting horses. Rocking W Ranch features horses for sale as well as horses being raised and trained to compete in cutting competitions. Alice Walton founded Rocking W Ranch because of her love of horses, western riding, and the sport of cutting.
About Cutting Competitions
The Western competitions known as cutting and reining have a standing tradition in the United States as the horse sport of ranchers and cowboys in the Southwest since the 1800s. Both reining and cutting evolved from the necessity of using horses to herd cattle in the open plains for the purposes of branding, castration, sorting, and other market requirements. Ranchers and cowboys relied upon horses as the means to "cut" individual cows from the herd due to the fact that they did not have fences and horses could be trained to keep pace with the quick, darting movements of cattle, eventually without the direction of the rider!
Naturally, people discovered that some horses and riders were better cutters than others, and as a result, competitions began to spring up in the mid 19th century. The first cutting competition to generate any money was held at the Cowboy Reunion in Texas. Since the founding of this competition, the sport has spread to 22 countries throughout the world. As cutting competitions grew in popularity and cutting horses became champions of industry, millions of dollars have gone into the breeding, training, competing and selling of prime cutting horses.
In the competition of cutting, horse and rider have two and a half minutes to separate an individual cow from the rest of the herd and keep that cow in isolation. Most contenders manage to separate more than one cow from the herd within the time limit. The competition begins when horse and rider cross the line and ride in among the herd. The cowboy selects a cow for separation and directs the horse to cut that cow off from the rest of the herd. Once separated, the cowboy drops the reins and allows the horse to manage the cow alone through quick starts and turns that blocks and confounds the cow until it gives up.
Cutting Organizations and Rocking Ranches
Cutting is a specified sport that doesn't gain nearly as much attention as thoroughbred racing. Nevertheless, there are definitely a few organizations that champion the competition. These include the National Cutting Horse Association in Australia, which is one of the largest associations for cutting competitions, owners, and breeders. The American Cutting Horse Association is a counterpart in the United States but is connected primarily with the states of Texas and Louisiana. The state of Montana also sponsors the Montana Cutting Horse Association.
In addition to state and national organizations, there are also Rocking Ranches located in many major states where western riding is prolific. Although many of these Rocking Ranches are more like rustic resorts that feature horseback riding and lessons, there are a few like Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch that are also home to champion cutting horses, broodmares, and horses for sale. Examples of such Rocking Ranches include Rocking H Ranch in Georgia and Rocking TK Ranch in Texas. Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch in Arkansas generates particular interest due to a few Rocking W Ranch victories in the NCHA's summer spectacular competition.
More on Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch:
In a relatively isolated but lovable sport, Alice Walton has made quite an impact with the quality of the horses she has entered in cutting competitions. Since founding Rocking W Ranch, Alice Walton's horses have experienced several exciting victories, including championships in the Western States Open and the NCHA Summer Spectacular. Some of the more prominent successes are Alice Walton's warm blooded mares Boon San Sally and her offspring Boon San Kitty, which have both won awards and recognitions through NCHA in the past couple of years. In the continuing years, Alice Walton's care and attention of her prizes cutting horses are likely to continue yielding results.
Additional Resources about Cutting Competitions and Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch
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